Thank you

I m Backkkkkkkkkkkkk
But first, I want to thank all of you. I could not write back or read your blogs during my stay in India but I was getting your comments constantly on my mail and trust me it was an amazing feeling whenever I read a comment from you.

Bilbo: Thank you so much for calling me in India and keeping a check on me. It was wonderful to talk to you. Your moral support relieved me from a lot of unnecessary tensions.

Kathy: Thanks for your wishes dear. Apy got well and is back in action. :-)

Wbix: Thanks and Sorry sweety! Could not keep you updated as never got a chance to sit and write. I was always in a hurry to get things done, running, usually to the hospital.

Keshi: Thank you so much. Your prayers worked. Thanks for praying for me and coming back again to see if I was doing fine. I am touched.

Alice: Thanks. Yep, I was in India when you wrote. Got your comment in mail. You made me smile.

Casa: Thanks a lot for your wishes. I guess they worked.
　
No matter how many times I write `Thanks`, I still cant express how much touched I am by this gesture of yours. I realized how much a “Get well soon” or “Take care” mean to someone who is not doing well. And ya, about my story in India, I am working on that post :-)

Leaving on a Jet plane...

Well! Just like John Denver, I am leaving on a Jet plane. For those who really wanted to know what was bothering me, here is the deal. I am supposed to leave for India (Bangalore) on April 16, 2006 (i.e. Sunday) for a week. The reason for anxiety was someone who was trying to make sure I do not travel on this date. But I just kept my fingers crossed. I had to travel urgently as Apy is not keeping well and doctors in Japan have given up. They just couldn’t cure him. So, that makes me all the more tense. I have no idea what’s wrong with me. May be Desi doctors could help me out. That’s the only hope I have.

Currently my state of mind is a combination of excitement and tension. My folks are planning to come all the way from Delhi to see me. Its been a long time since I saw them last (3 months is a long time :P). So, I am all tensed whether I will be able to reach India or am I going to get stuck with something. I know I am whining unnecessarily but a phenomenon runs in the family. If something is planned, it will never work out. What works out is something that’s spontaneous. Sounds weird? It keeps happening with me all the time. So that makes my worry number 2 valid.

May be I am a paranoid. When it comes to something that has been planned, I am usually like that. I ask everyone who knows about it, not to be confident of its happening until it has happened. It has happened with me a zillion times. I planned so it didn’t work out.

I am a strong believer of ‘What ever happens happens for good’. But then, at times, even I give up on my faith. Usually, when something like this is about to happen, I form my sentences very carefully. Those who know me will agree to this. Instead of saying, “I am coming”, I end up saying, “I might come”. So that makes it look like it’s not planned and it ‘may’ or ‘may not’ happen. It’s like cheating luck or you can say, cheating yourself. But at times it works. I don’t know how, but it does.

So here I am, waiting for Sunday. Keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that I reach India and get well soon.

Mission: Party Hard

Day: Saturday
Date: April 08, 2006
Time: 2200 hrs
Team: Apy, P and Shu
Rendezvous Point: Roppongi
Mission Name: Party Hard

This is the first time Apy went to a pub in Japan in last 8 months. Its not that I don’t like to party but in a way, things never materialized before.

Shu came up with the plan. He did his home work and prepared a list of all the pubs that played good music. (Roppongi is famous for its night life). So, Mr. Know-it-all got a map along and started leading us to the first pub in the list. We, Apy and P, obediently followed him. After a long walk from the station, Shu realizes that it’s a wrong direction. Apy and P have a smile on their faces. ABOUT TURN. We start moving in the opposite (/*the right*/) direction and pub hunt is ON. After a lot of lefts, rights, just-around-the-corners and just-a-lil-aheads, we are standing in front of a pub. But guess what? It’s closed. (Apy and P still smiling but its turning into laughter) ABOUT TURN. On our way, we saw a board which had nice words written all over it. It was a gentlemen’s club and Apy and Shu were on their knees pleading in front of P to wait out there for some time while they went in to get a lap dance. But P was in no mood to compromise. Darn! So, after more of marching and a lot of shady jokes, shady comments, threats to leave P out and go to that club, and laughing our lungs out, we end up at a place called Hideout.

Pub 1, Hideout: Good music and less crowded. P likes it as she is not very comfortable with crowd. We order drinks and get on with the music. Apy and Shu start swinging with the music while P is just smiling away to glory. Shu is getting real comfortable with Victoria (the waitress). Suddenly, DJ plays a Punjabi remix number. Apy is like WHAT THE …….!!!(First, its Japan… and second, It is JAPAN. People don’t use English here and a Punjabi number in a nightclub freaked us out). After a couple of Johnny walkers, we decided to check out some other place.

Pub 2, Motown: Apy likes it. Good music. Good crowd. We switched to Jack Daniel’s. After a while, P is on the floor. (To make it more clear, ‘on the floor’ as in she decides to dance and not lying on the floor drunk. :P). So Apy and P are swaying with the music while Shu is off hunting. 3 hours past, Shu is still hunting and all three are drunk like a skunk. It’s time to leave. (Wait a minute… leave the pub not for home… it was jus 3:30AM)

Pub3, Impulse: Nice place with black lights (ultraviolet lights which make your teeth and eyes look really weird). All three drunkards are laughing away to glory as they look at each other. Shu is in love with this place as a girl is hitting on him. P doesn’t like it here as the music is too loud for her. So, we head out. (Better luck next time Shu)

Pub4, The Dollar Lounge: Music not good. They seemed to have fucked up Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen spirit”. They were playing a remix of it. Apy didn’t like it here. So, Shu had one shot and we were out again.

The night was wonderful, sat roadside and the talks were endless. It was dawn and we were sober so thought of coffee. Starbucks was nearby and luckily it was open. We rushed just to know that they were closing in 10 minutes. (10 minutes was a lot of time for people as hungry as us.) Anyways, got coffee and some sandwiches, hogged within 10 minutes and were thrown out after that.

Still, it was 1 more hour to go before the first train. We had no option but to wait and it was not bad at all. We were having a good time together. That’s a different story that we were not able to keep our eyes open.

So, after an hour Apy is on a train back with a smile on his face, thinking of all the non sense things that they did the whole night at different places, the goof ups, the shady jokes. One heck of a night it was.

I am anxious. I m confused and I m nervous....

I don’t know what will happen. Is it going to work out or is it going to be a disaster?

This question has been haunting me for quite a while now. Only time has the answer. One week is all I have. In one week, my fate will be decided. I pray but still the fear of things not working out scares me to the core. Things are complicated but still I am hopeful. I hope that things work out the way they were planned. But as far as I remember, my planning has never been successful. How can it be this time? What can I do? I guess nothing.

Am I desperate? Yes, may be I am.

Sakura is all around me.. Its everywhere I go

Spring is here and so is Sakura, also known as Cherry Blossom. Last Saturday, a Sakura Bazaar was organized at Indian Embassy in Tokyo. The view near the embassy was breath taking and so was the crowd at embassy (by the end of the day, wasn’t left with much of breath). I have not seen as many Indians in last 8 months as I saw that day. So clicked a few pictures and have updated Phutoz with the same.

I should say that the Indian food that they served was awesome. Tried Chhole Bhature and Chat after ages and of course! Kingfisher (they called it Indo beer) was also there. :D. Since the crowd was huge, there was a lot of pushing. After a few beers and pushes, started feeling like home. :D. There was no space to move but kids were running all over the place. I kept wondering, how kids always found the required space to run. (Don’t forget I had had a few beers and I was in analytical mode then)

Japanese crowd was there. They too seemed to be having a good time. Some Japanese women were wearing saree. They surely did look cute. Some of them were trying out Henna. Tattoo kind of stuff.

It was a fun day for sure.